Welcome Home
by Jason Thompson
Summary: Darla and Drusilla teach Angel about his true nature...


Welcome Home  
An Angel: The Series Fanfiction Story  
Author: Jason Thompson  
Pilamsega@tir.com  
January 1, 2001  
  
  
Disclaimer:Once upon a time there was a guy he wrote a story with characters and settings   
he didn't own, but he put a disclaimer on his story and that made it a little less illegal. BTVS and   
Angel are owned by Joss, Fox, Mutant Enemy, and the WB. I don't own anything except the   
situation characters are in.   
  
Category:Angel/Angelus, Angel/Darla with Angel/Cordelia.   
  
Spoilers:Reunion.   
  
Warnings:  
  
Summary:Directly following the end of Reunion. Angel's former employees learn that the   
line between Angel and Angelus is far finer than they figured.  
  
Rating:Rated R for Language, violence and Angst.   
  
Distribution:Ask First.   
  
Notes:  
  
Dedication:Dedicated to Bri, Mary, Duchess, Dale, Nate, Stone Cold, and Aslan, who have   
allowed me to bounce my ideas off them, and Krac, cause she has the evil bunny slippers.   
  
Welcome Home  
  
"Listen to her! Right now the three of us are all that's standing between you and real darkness."  
  
Gunn nodded and said, "Best believe that man."  
  
Angel looked passively between the three of them, Cordelia's eyes were pleading with him, Gunn   
was gauging him, and Wesley had seemed to adopt an air of authority, a much more convincing   
air than he ever had with Buffy. Angel nodded slowly, "I do." He looked between them again,   
then said. "You're all fired."  
  
Angel let the bomb he dropped on his former employees and perhaps friends linger before he   
stood and walked out of his office. He was half-surprised by the tiny triumphant smirk he felt   
pulling on his lips. He got about ten feet when he heard the high pitched whine of Cordelia's that   
Angel began to associate with fingernails on a blackboard, N'Sync and other sounds that made   
Angel want to dust himself. "Ha ha, very funny Angel. Joke's over…"  
  
Angel stopped, "I'm not joking."  
  
Gunn shrugged and stood up, "Alright. Later." With that Gunn started to walk out of the office.   
  
Cordelia stopped Gunn. "Angel don't be this way…"  
  
Angel sighed, this young woman was rapidly becoming an annoyance, "Don't be what way   
Cordelia? By all means, please tell what am I thinking, because I obviously can't think for   
myself." The sarcasm crept into his voice word by word. Angel crossed the room back to   
Cordelia and looked her in the eye. "I've lived, ten times your life, I've seen evil, I've seen good,   
I've seen Hell. So please, tell me little girl, what gives you anything resembling the right to talk   
to me about what I mean, or how I live my life?" Angel watched Cordelia's lip tremble and tears   
brim in her eyes. Angel backed her into the office, "I really want to know, because ever since I   
had enough *pity* to give you a job you didn't have a single qualification for, you've seen fit to   
try and be my mother. You don't know me, none of you know me. So don't pretend to have the   
right to judge me." With the venom in Angel's words, Cordelia began to blubber. Angel was   
unimpressed. Turning he saw Wesley red faced with anger. "Well Wes, what little gem of   
knowledge do you wish to bestow on me?"  
  
Wesley swallowed and tried to collect the shattered remains of his thoughts, "Angel, what about   
your redemption?"  
  
Angel snorted and said, "Fuck my redemption, all this time, since I was cursed originally, I've   
been jumping through hoops like a fucking dog. First Darla's, then Whistler's, then Buffy's, then   
Doyle's and now the Powers. Well fuck every last bit of it." Angel held his arms out wide, he   
then yelled to the rafters, "That's right! I don't care anymore!" He turned back to Wesley, "I've   
spent five years trying to make up for a century, and any time I try to help someone close to me, I   
pay the price. Take Buffy, I try to love her, and I lose my soul in the process then spend a   
century in Hell as a result. Now Darla, she had accepted the gift, however brief she had of life,   
and no sooner than she did, no sooner than I have a moment of peace, but she's ripped away from   
me. So I let the scum of the earth get slaughtered? Big fucking deal. What about you Wes?   
What have you done for the Council? How many young girls have you led to the wolves? Glass   
houses Wesley."  
  
Wesley's eyes widened and he sat down, trying to not look guilty. Angel turned to leave the   
office again, when Gunn grabbed his arm and turned him, before Gunn realized what had   
happened, he was pinned against the wall with Angel's hand beginning to crush his throat. "Don't   
ever presume to touch me as you'd touch one of your buddies. I may look human, I may sound   
human, but I'm not human. You pretend like you want to understand, but you don't. You want to   
know who I am? Fine." Angel released Gunn and watched the young man slump to the ground   
gasping for breath. "I am Angelus. I've been Angelus since the very beginning, just because I   
have a soul doesn't mean I'm a different being…"  
  
Cordelia stood up, "You aren't Angelus, he's evil."  
  
Angel looked at her over his shoulder, "Bullshit, that's the lie you tell yourself so you can sleep at   
night. That's the lie I told myself ever since I came back. At the end of the day, that's all it is, a   
lie. For the first time, I realize that Angelus isn't gone, he's not repressed. He's a part of me, and   
it's time I accept him."  
  
Cordelia began to cry, "That's not true… that *can't* be true."  
  
Angel smirked, "Why? Why not?" His eyes then brightened with recognition, "I know why.   
You want me…" He crossed the room slowly, each step deliberate, measured. "Is that it   
Cordelia? Do I get you hot and bothered? So I can't have any darkness, cause that would mean   
there's darkness in you." Angel stopped only a few inches in front of Cordelia.  
  
Angel was whipped around by Wesley, before the English man leveled a punch on the vampire's   
jaw that would lay out most anyone, Angel's head shot back and he staggered a step. With a   
growl, Angel threw Wesley out of the office. "GET OUT! ALL OF YOU!" He looked Wesley   
in the eye, "Before I'll show how little difference between Angelus and I there is."  
  
***  
  
Angel shot bolt upright in bed, he could feel his blood boiling in his veins. The Blood Lust   
calling to him, demanding of him. A one word command, "Feed…" No, it was different, it was,   
"Kill…"  
  
He jumped out of bed and pulled clothes on, he hastily made his way down the stairs. He was out   
in the street, bombarded by thousands of heartbeats. He walked down the streets, he was tempted   
to grab every person he walked by and feed until he could draw no more. But he resisted, if he   
was going to rejoin the game, he wanted to do it his way.   
  
He was Angelus. He wasn't some gutter rat turned vamp, he had class, taste. He had a family to   
find. He closed his eyes and listened for Drusilla's voice in the air. Her voice always rang clearly   
in his mind, that and he wasn't quite sure if he could hear Darla as he would have once. He was   
no longer her Childe, he laughed. He was her Grand Sire now. It was hard to understand, but   
he'd get used to it. He paused, he could hear Dru now. He listened until he could hear her   
clearly, and realized, she was where he left her the night before.  
  
***  
  
He crossed the threshold in the house, descending the stairs he could smell fear and pain. Some   
was old, some fresh. Darla and Drusilla hadn't killed them all yet. He parted the doors and was   
greeted by the sounds of whimpering. Darla looked up from Lilah, who was spurting blood from   
her throat. Drusilla took a moment from her prey, an older man, Angel… us smirked at the pair.   
"Well, did you save any for Daddy?"  
  
A hopeful smile spread across Drusilla's face. "Daddy?"  
  
Darla's enthusiasm, if she had any, was more reserved. She crossed the room slowly, appraising   
Angelus, she circled him. "I hope this isn't a repeat of past games Angel, because if it is, I'll stake   
you."  
  
Angelus looked her over, "Nah… I've just grown tired of being led around by the nose."  
  
Drusilla giggled, "His flowers have turned black. It's very pretty Daddy."  
  
Angelus smiled, "Thank you Dru." He picked up a familiar scent and laughed, "Lindsey   
McDonald! You still alive?"  
  
Lindsey coughed, "Yeah Angel, I am."  
  
Angelus laughed again, "This is perfect." He walked towards Lindsey, yanking the lawyer to his   
feet, "I'll give you props boy, you almost convinced me to give up the whipping boy role all by   
yourself, but I've got to thank you for bringing Darla back. I've got myself a brood again." The   
look in Lindsey's eyes spoke volumes, he was dead inside. Without so much as a flinch Angelus   
tore into his flesh and helped his body catch up with his spirit. He dropped Lindsey's bloodless   
corpse and wiped the corners of his mouth. "Damn did I miss that!"  
  
He looked around the room, Drusilla was smiling giddily, while Darla walked towards him. She   
wrapped her arms around his neck, he placed his hands on her hips. She slipped out of her   
gameface. "Angelus?"  
  
Angelus smirked, "Yes Darla?"  
  
Darla smiled, "Welcome home." She brought his lips to hers and they kissed passionately, almost   
violently.  
  
--End--  



End file.
